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Showing posts from 2020

It's not you, it's me....please respect our choices during this pandemic.

This pandemic has been hard on everyone.  Even people who are self-proclaimed homebodies and introverts are feeling the strain.  I get it.  Where I live, we have done a fairly good job of flattening the curve and things are slowly starting to reopen.  Life has by no means gone back to normal, but people are anxious to return to parts of their lives that they have missed over these past few months.  Nothing is better than seeing your friends and family in person, instead of a video version of them on a screen.  Getting to sip a drink on a patio or play a round of golf — summer fun that we are all deserving of.  In-person social interaction and a taste of life before the pandemic are all good for our spirits and mental well-being. However, for our family, the decision to resume any of our pre-COVID activities will be weighed extremely carefully.  My 11 year old son has acquired heart disease due to coronary aneurysms he developed as a result of Kawasaki disease.  This means that h

Kawasaki Disease Parents and the Pandemic: Anxious for a reason (or four)

At the very start of this global pandemic (if fact before it was even declared an actual pandemic), I know that many Kawasaki disease parents were already beginning to panic.  As news out of China and then Europe started to ramp up about a novel coronavirus, KD parents were hotly discussing it in the online support groups and raising their concerns with their doctors. Reports that those with underlying health conditions may have a more severe case of the coronavirus left many KD parents uneasy and then reports that COVID-19 may be causing cardiac damage made all KD parents take pause.  Things then went from bad to worse when news from the UK surfaced about an inflammatory illness that was emerging in children, which was likened to Kawasaki disease.  At this point it was all out pandemonium in the online Kawasaki disease parent and patient community. I know that Kawasaki disease experts and organizations have done their best to provide reassurance and comfort based on their KD